The “Gods of the Copybook Headings” by Rudyard Kipling is a hauntingly beautiful snapshot of the human struggle. This is my own interpretation, but it seems to me that the “Copybook Headings” reference holds two meanings: 1) in the 19th century, children would practice their calligraphy with eternal maxims thought universally true (he provides Western examples, but the concept transcends culture); 2) these...